Carmen Sandiego

Carmen (Gina Rodriguez) heads to Sydney, and later the Australian Outback, while trying to foil V.I.L.E.‘s latest scheme involving launching a rocket prematurely and wreaking havoc on the locals. Part of V.I.L.E’s plan involves hypnotizing a rocket scientist (Liam O’Brien) at the Sydney Opera House, and while Zack (Michael Hawley) and Ivy (Abby Trott) are able to prevent the scientist from launching the rocket, a brainwashed Carmen nearly completes V.I.L.E.’s plans.

Both Carmen (Gina Rodriguez) and A.C.M.E. begin investigating the theft of Vermeer paintings. For Carmen that means heading to Amsterdam to the Rijk Museum to steal the only remaining painting while disguised as The Duchess hoping to use the stolen painting to draw out V.I.L.E. and retrieve the other stolen artwork. Through a bit of bad timing and misfortune, however, it’s up to Zack (Michael Hawley) to step in as the Duke of Vermeer forcing Carmen to give her assistant the crash course version of My Fair Lady so he can complete the sale and provide a distraction long enough for Carmen to recover the rest of the paintings. The episode relies quite a bit on Zack, a little too much as there seem to be more than enough clues to give him away to V.I.L.E. Still, the stolen artwork and Carmen’s quick work and stealing them back before Zack blows his cover provides a fair amount of tension.

“The Fishy Doubloon Caper” takes Carmen (Gina Rodriguez) to Ecuador in search of sunken treasure. Zack (Michael Hawley) and Ivy (Abby Trott) are along for the ride, providing assistance in helping Carmen stay one-step ahead of V.I.L.E. agents El Topo (Andrew Pifko) and Le Chèvre (Bernardo De Paula). Sadly, Zack proves less helpful at a fish auction when the trio try to reacquire the coin which has been swallowed by a local delicacy. Although still a bit awkward, the episode pulls back a little on Player‘s (Finn Wolfhard) explanation about the latest locale for Carmen as the show makes some improvements from the previous episode.

Following the two-part opener explaining Carmen‘s (Gina Rodriguez) origins, the show sets in on a more straightforward episode with “The Sticky Rice Caper” which sends our thief to Indonesia. The episode introduces two new characters as part of Carmen’s team in a brother and sister (Michael Hawley and Abby Trott) who first help Carmen allude some mysterious agents in Paris and later help her prevent V.I.L.E. Academy‘s sinister plot to wipe out the rice crops on the island of Java for the sole purpose of profit. Both Crackle (Michael Goldsmith), who gets a harsh lesson about failure from V.I.L.E., and the pair of Chase Devineaux (Rafael Petardi) and Julia Argent (Charlet Chung), and their continued pursuit of Carmen, return in limited roles in subplots not connected to the main storyline.

After opening with a stylish heist sequence, the two-part opener to Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego takes place mostly in flashbacks which fill in the history of the world’s most famous thief, including where she learned her skills and acquired both her unusual name and trademark hat. While the robbery truly is the best part of the two episodes (making me hopeful that the remainder of the season will be even better), the flashbacks are an interesting way to rewrite the Carmen Sandiego‘s (Gina Rodriguez) history for the purposes of the new show.